Mark and Ron, Waikiki Beach.
9: The number of Longboard Lagers that a retired Marine gave me when my pal Ron and I were grilling steaks in the courtyard of the Marriott Ko Olina on Oahu, Hawaii. The guy was leaving the island early due to a family emergency and was unloading stuff from his refrigerator that he couldn’t take with him. Semper fi.
5: I kept five of the beers from the Marine and shared them with Ron.
4: The number of the gifted Longboards I gave to a diminutive Japanese tourist who, though he didn’t speak a lick of English, surely understood my friendly intentions when I plopped four beers down beside his grill.
2: Rene’ spied two moongooses (Wiki says you can also use “mongeese” but that sounds weird) during our stay at the Marriott on Oahu. I only saw one, right next to the reflecting pool, as it stalked prey in the middle of the day. They were introduced on the islands to control rats, an experiment that never worked because the moongooses decided to eat birds rather than rats. They do not exist on Kaua’i or Lana’i but do breed prolifically on all the other islands.
2: On our catamaran trip alongside the west coast of Kaua’i, we spied a mother and calf bottle nose dolphin.
12 or more: During the same boat excursion, and at numerous other times during our stay on Kaua’i, we had the opportunity to watch humpback whales playing in their winter calving grounds.
Napoli Coast, Kaua’i.
50-100: Again, on our catamaran trip, we saw Hawai’i’s iconic spinner dolphins in great numbers. Much smaller than the familiar bottle nose variety, spinners get their name from leaping high in the air and spinning 360 degrees. We saw calves with the mothers, the babies not much bigger than a bedroom pillow.
10-20: Green sea turtles are another of the threatened species we saw in Hawai’i. As a reminder as to what they look like, here’s one that took a nap on the beach next to us on Poipu Beach.
Billions and billions: OK, so I am exaggerating. But there are a whole hell of a lot of chickens roaming around Kaua’i, seeming very unconcerned since there are no mongooses on the Garden Island to eat them. Here’s one that seemed to like our friend Nancy McVean.
50-60: We found this number of secretive parrots (actually rose billed parakeets) on Kaua’i. The parakeets are another invasive species to the island. We viewed them at the courthouse in Lihue, Kaua’i. I was skeptical when Dicky, a smooth talking local salesman, told us about the nightly roosting flights of these small green birds to the royal palms lining the front yard of the courthouse. They came, just like Dicky said they would, at dusk, when my wife’s $900 camera was out of juice.
35: How many dollars I spent for my bowl of soup (bouillabaisse) for lunch at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Oahu. Most expensive and best seafood soup I’ve ever eaten.
1: The number of P-40 Warhawks at the Aviation Museum of the Pacific on Ford Island, Pearl Harbor. I had to have my picture taken with the plane since my pal and fellow writer, Wayne Johnson of Silver Bay, MN was one of General Chennault’s Flying Tigers and flew the plane in China over 70 years ago. You can find Wayne’s book and order a copy from Amazon.
Mark with the P-40
40+: I swam in the Pacific every day, sometimes three or four times a day, during our two-week trip. Here’s just one of the beaches I swam at.
Poipu Beach, Kaua’i.
16-20″: The number of inches of snow my poor kids and friends from Duluth had to put up with while we were enjoying days of sun and 78-82 degree weather.
1: I only bought one t-shirt on the trip, from Kaua’i Coffee company, after Rene’ and I toured the plantation just outside of Koloa.
2: I couldn’t resist returning to Talk Story Books for a second visit. As I write this, I’ve just exhausted my supply of books to read, ending my reading in Hawai’i with Short Stories of Hawai’i by Jack London.
6: The number of books I actually read on this trip. Here’s the list:
The Cellist of Sarajevo
Stories of Hawai’i
Kaua’i Reader
And the Mountains Echoed
Hotel Honolulu
Queen of Tears.
0: My wife loves the Australian guy (Alex O’Loughlin) who plays Steve McGarrett on the new version of Hawaii Five -O. And while we met many lovely Aussies on our vacation here in Hawaii, and while my wife spent most of each day on “McGarrett watch”, she never found him. She did find the headquarters for Five-O (actually the Supreme Court Building in Honolulu) but not Steve in the flesh. I guess she’ll just have to lust after the celluloid version.
3: Is the number of folks I love more after this fabulous trip to paradise. Thanks to the McVeans and my wife for making this one of the most relaxing and enjoyable vacations I’ve ever taken.
Aloha. Until we meet again…
Mark
Ron, Nancy and Rene’, Lihue Harbor, Kaua’i.
